New York Comic Con 2017 Recap

I went to my very first Comic Con this month and oooooooh boy! It was an explosion of colors and sounds and characters from every fandom you could possibly imagine. This year, NYCC took place from Thursday, October 5 to Sunday, October 8 at the Jacob Javits Convention Center. I only went on Saturday but in retrospect, I should have gone for more than one day!

Here are some of the cosplay pics that I took. There was so much going on, and so many fantastic cosplayers! I wish I could have snapped some more pictures.

One of my main priorities that day was snagging as many giveaways as I could. Though my friend and I missed out on the cool SyFy backpack totes, I ended up with 13 books, 12 of which were free and several of which were advanced reader's copies. Not bad for a day's haul! I'm unashamed to admit that the books I received at NYCC were leaps and bounds more exciting than what I managed to get at Book Con- probably because people at Comic Con weren't all there for the same giveaways! I had checked in a carry-on suitcase just for this purpose. Coat check allows you to put things in and take things out of your checked items throughout the day. It costs $3 per item (cash only).

One panel that I did go to was the talk with Pierce Brown, author of the Red Rising trilogy and the upcoming Iron Gold. Guys, he is so freaking charming. How can someone be so charming?! When he spoke, I could see so clearly how this person created the world of Red Rising and crazy characters like Sevro and Victra. It's always very inspiring to hear an author's thought process. No piece of work will ever start perfect, though apparently Brown's first draft of Red Rising was pretty stellar, and it's up to the author to explore what works and what doesn't.

The show floor also had some pretty spectacular booths. Chevrolet was one of the big sponsors of NYCC and had a huge booth with The Flash- and Wonder Woman- cars. I know nothing about cars. But I know that these are crazy cool.

Check out the grid below for some other highlights from the show floor. Pokemon plushies galore, custom luxury lightsabers, Lila Bard and Kell Maresh cutouts at the Tor Book booth, exclusive NYCC Funko Pops, and the weirdest booth of all that day- Amazon's Echo Escape the Room. I didn't get a chance to experience it because the queue was so long. But I hear that in order to escape, teams had to communicate with Alexa on various Echo devices around the rooms. This is so incredibly gimmicky but also a brilliant marketing strategy. Yes, I guess you can have it both ways!

Of course, anyone would be a little stressed out after a day of conning. There were plenty of lines to stand in and strangers to bump elbows with. I had a rushed lunch, which is to say that I ate a panini while waiting on line for the Epic Reads drop of Batman: Nightwalker. My shoulders were tired from carrying around a bag full of books and swag. So imagine my delight when I asked a man if I could take a picture of his dog, and he suggested instead that I give her a hug! I realized afterwards that she was a therapy dog and he had gotten a special card to get her in. If I had known, I wouldn't have disturbed him, but she was in a costume with no obvious tags or markings- the dog lover in me could not resist. I think my face in this picture speaks a thousand words. Hugging this sweet beagle puppy was the best way to lower my blood pressure and calm down a bit from the stress of running around the Jacob Javits Center.

One of my favorite appearances on the show floor was by the Fandom Fantasy Food Truck. I stumbled upon the truck towards the back of the show floor just as they were giving out snacks inspired by different fandoms. I opted for the Porg in a Blanket (hey- Rian Johnson basically implied that porgs are a food source!) though maybe the waffle or pretzel would have been more filling. The Porg in a Blanket was a cake pop wrapped in a sugary cookie blanket. And it was definitely too cute to eat.

There were food trucks parked outside of the convention center throughout the day, but the lines were all incredibly long. Like I mentioned earlier, I opted to grab lunch from one convention food shops instead. In fact, I would advise any con-goer to bring plenty of snacks to tide them over. My friend and I brought crackers, fruit, and plenty of water. After that quick lunch around 12:30 PM, we didn't get dinner until 6:30 PM. However by this time, most of the food trucks were actually sold out of food. We ended up luckily getting Mexican food at one of the food trucks parked outside.

All in all, I had an amazing time at my first ever Comic Con, and I'm so glad I had a great friend to spend it with. I put together a list of tips for attending NYCC next year, mostly for myself but maybe you can find some use for it as well!

Tips for attending NYCC:

If you plan on buying goodies or getting many giveaways like books, I definitely recommend checking in a duffel bag or suitcase. There are two areas for coat check, and both are very organized and clean. It costs $3 cash per checked item. You can access the checked item throughout the day as long as you haven't misplaced your ticket slip.

Bring plenty of snacks and water. Make sure your bottle is sealed. Security will make you throw out opened plastic bottles of water and other drinks. You can bring a refillable bottle. There are water fountains located near all bathrooms in the convention center. Snacks are pretty hard to come by unless you want to wait in very long lines. As I mentioned in my blog post, you'll probably also have to wait a while inbetween actual meals.

Create a solid plan of what you want to see! All panels, screenings, and autographings are pre-scheduled. It's a good idea to get to the ones you really want to go to as early as possible. Keep in mind that some panels and screenings may be located outside of the convention center at their partner venues.

Giveaways are also often scheduled. I looked up each book publisher and they had a giveaway of their scheduled book drops and signings for each day of Comic Con on their websites, blogs, and Twitter accounts.

Be sure that you're following your favorite vendors and booths on Twitter on the days you go to Comic Con. They might tweet surprise giveaways or updates throughout the day.